Rains claim 28 lives in Uttar Pradesh, 600 villages affected

At least 28 people have so far lost their lives in rain related incidents in Uttar Pradesh whereas a population of five lakh in some 600 villages of the state has been affected because of it.

A maximum of 15 people have lost their lives in Saharanpur, five in Sitapur, three each in Lakhimpur and Muzaffarnagar and one each in Balrampur and Bahraich.

According to relief commissioner's office statement in Lucknow, following incessant rains and release of water in the barrages, large areas of Lakhimpur Kheri, Bahraich, Muzaffarngar, Bijnore, Amroha, Pilibhit, Sitapur, Meerut, Balrampur, Shamli, Saharanpur, Aligarh, Shahjahanpur and Rampur have been affected.

Lakhimpur Kheri is the worst hit where a population of over one lakh belonging to 127 villages has been affected. Meanwhile, 95 villages in Muzaffarnagar, 52 in Bijnore, 63 in Amroha, 71 in Meerut, 37 in Pilibhit, 17 in Sitapur, 66 in Bahraich, 12 in Shamli, five in Aligarh and 50 in Saharanpur have been affected by flood waters which have also submerged thousands of hectares of agricultural land.

Huge number of army personnel and Provincial Armed Constabulary has been pressed into service for relief and rescue operations in the affected areas and thousands have been shifted to safer places.

After release of six lakh cusec water at Narora on Thursday, Bulandshahr, Farrukhabad, Kannauj, Kanpur, Rae Bareli, Allahabad, Mirzapur, Varanasi, Ghazipur and Ballia on the banks of Ganga have been affected.

Besides this, cities like Muzaffarnagar, Bagpat, Shamli, Mathura, Agra, Etawah, Auraiya, Jalaun, Hamirpur and Allahabad on the banks of Yamuma have been affected due to release of eight lakhs cusec water in Hathnikund barrage on June 17, the statement said.

According to meteorological office forecast, weather had been mainly dry over the state and is expected to remain dry in the next 24 hours.